Life is an illusion

 ಇದನ್ನು ನನ್ನ ನಿನ್ನೆಯ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ “ politically correct ” ಗೇ ಸೇರಿಸಬೇಕಿತ್ತು.  ಒಂದು ಸುದ್ದಿ - ಒಂದು ಘಟನೆ. ವಿದೇಶಿ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ ದೂರದರ್ಶನ ವಾಹಿನಿಯೊಂದು ಇಲ್ಲಿಯ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯೋರ್ವರ ಮೇಲೆ ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯ ಚಿತ್ರವೊಂದನ್ನು ತಯಾರಿಸಿ ಬಿತ್ತರಿಸಿತು. ಅದು ದುರುದ್ದೇಶದಿಂದ ತಯಾರಿಸಿದ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಸುಳ್ಳು ಎಂದು ನಮ್ಮಸರಕಾರ ಮತ್ತು ಅದರ ಹೊಗಳುಭಟರು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಂಡರು. ಮತ್ತು ಅದನ್ನು ಬ್ಯಾನ್ ಮಾಡಿದರು.  ಆದರೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ ನೋಡಿ, ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸತ್ಯ ಬೇಕು. ಭಯ ಕಮ್ಮಿ - ನಮ್ಮ ನಿಮ್ಮಂತಲ್ಲ. ಜವಾಹರಲಾಲ ನೆಹರು ವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಬ್ಯಾನ್ ಆಗಿರುವ ಆ ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು  ತಮ್ಮ ವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ ಆವರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಸಾರ ಮಾಡಲು ಹೊಂಚಿಕೊಂಡರು. ಯುನಿವರ್ಸಿಟಿ ಬೇಡ ಎಂದಿರಬೇಕು. ಅವರು ಕೇಳಿರಲಿಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ.  ಪ್ರಸಾರ ಮಾಡುವ ಅರ್ಧ ಗಂಟೆ ಮೊದಲು ವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ ಆವರಣದಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ ಕಡಿತವಾಗಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿತು. ಇಂಟರ್ನೆಟ್ ಕೂಡ ಮಾಯವಾಯಿತು. ಆದರೂ ಆ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳೆಲ್ಲ ಕತ್ತಲೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಕುಳಿತು ತಮ್ಮ ಮೊಬೈಲ್, ಲ್ಯಾಪ್ಟಾಪ್ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ  ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ನೋಡತೊಡಗಿದರು.  ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದಲೋ ಕಲ್ಲು ತೂರಾಟ ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯಸದ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಪೋಲೀಸ್ ಕಛೇರಿಯತ್ತ ಆಫೀಸಿನತ್ತ ಮೆರವಣಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗತೊಡಗಿದರು.  ನಂತರ ಸುಮಾರು ಮಧ್ಯರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ತು ಮರಳಿ ಬಂದಿತು.  ಅಲ್ಲ, ಆ ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ. ಆಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ಅನ್ಯಾ

Of late, most of us attempt to be politically correct, in public, sometimes in private too. Not out of free will, but out of compulsion. As do not want conflict. That’s why, when we see people who strive to be factually correct instead, we respect, even adore these people. People like Rajeev Nigam, kroordarshan, Akash Bannerjee, newslaundry  to name a few.  One of such YouTube channels is Unfiltered by Samdish. He interviews political leaders of all colors and hues. And he asks pertinent and straight forward questions - questions which matter to us citizens. Though he asks them all smiling and jocular manner, his questions are no jokes.  And unlike many other social media influencers, he isn’t left leaning, nor right leaning.  Dear Rahul, Arnab, Navika, just watch his interviews for inspiration.  I may dislike their programs (Arnab and likes) immensely, but  I can understand their predicament. If one’s livelihood and life depended on fawning  over those in power, one will have to do th

 Let us acquire a time machine. Is it available in the amazon yet? Let us acquire it and change the following things. Let us go back to the time of our independence and tell British and Nehru that we do not want partition of our country. Independence dena hai to do, nahi to bhad me jao. We do not want the creation of Pakistan. Let us come forward a few days and make Patel as prime minister. Because you know - that Nehru is womanizing, muslim appeasing, dynastic megalomaniac! Next let us go back few hundred years and stop the Mughals from attacking us. By not being too good. By not sticking to yudhadharma and all those things. You say that we needed a united front against attacking Mughals. No, that's all crap. Next let us come back to Independence day and declare our nation as a nation of hindus. If some one wants to follow other religions, they have to follow our rules and listen to us. Listen to us obediently.  Let us get rid of science and technology department in our ministry a

I should be happy, exhilarated, above the clouds  as I finally executed my hello world - or rather hello android code in compose kotlin.   But as wise people say one should enjoy the journey. As the destination is after all hello world. Enjoy the journey, no matter how gradle-y it is, no matter how it takes ages to compile the sample code - only to get unintelligible error messages. Any ways, that put almost a full stop to Viveka chudamani. Or Sanskrit lessons. This work is more exciting - isn't it?  It's after all hello world. In other news , Bangalore is cold. Not as cold to others and their problems (which is old and perpetual news). Cold as in freezing cold. Nights are like - from where the hell this cold air is coming?  But  flowers are in bloom in my garden. Don't put nazar yet. Not in my garden as such - but in the garden of our apartment complex, which employs full time gardeners. Which I would never do - what a sacrilegious idea! Waste money on gardening - never, n

What's new with you people in this new year 2023?  I have plenty of things to share with you. Would you prefer my daily dose of wailing in self pity or other things? Ok, other things it is.  How do these people achieve buddha state? I really marvel. I saw a young man sitting on a bike in the middle of road, reading intently his phone.  Ok, the bike was parked - not sure if it was his and was not exactly middle of the road. So this man has decided "Let be, let go". I am a peaceful soul and I sit here in the middle of nowhere, completely absorbed in whatever is in this tiny piece of electronics. Great. Being absorbed completely in the phone is universal - almost pandemic-y. But most of us, first make sure we are in a safe -ish place and simultaneously worry about other things too.  I have a lot to learn from this generation, it appears. Second question - are the metro travels of us common folk subsidized? Look at the inside of these trains, look at the station. So neat and

It's really tough. And I am not talking about new year resolutions - now being the time of it. We are all well past that stage in life - only resolutions now we can hope for is staying alive - sadly, reluctantly.  Tough is Sanskrit - and the poems in them - and philosophical works in them. I have taken up a difficult task of translating a work by Adi Shankaracharya called Viveka Chudamani into kannada. With 3 references and a constant online dictionary referral, it is difficult - both the concepts and the verses.  So when I chanced upon Bhagavadgita in one of these sites - shlokam, along with word by word translation, I just browsed through 12th chapter. It was easier - much easier to understand.  So greedily I started creating some images with Kannada script shloka and English translation - 14 of them were done before lunch time. Then sanity prevailed. As I suspected, the world wide web is filled with translations, explanations, websites, apps on Bhagavadgita. So, my work would be